Lots To Be Noted

Don’t worry, I’ll be quick. You’ve probably heard it all already, anyways.

First, mezzoblue has been marvelously redesigned using valid CSS and XHTML 1.0 Strict by its founder Dave Shea. The redesign includes a new centered layout, which looks that much better, and numerous other subtle improvements. Congrats, Dave, on the seamless move from tables to tableless.

Second, a new image replacement technique has surfaced that uses overflow: hidden instead of Fahrner’s display: none, which requires an extra span. Give it a look, as it seems to be gaining momentum.

Douglas Bowman has continued to make changes to stopdesign and, as always, they’re intuitive, clever, and beautiful. Changes include a new “Recent Links” section in the sidebar and an awesome new section on the site called “SEEalso,” where Doug shares “articles, essays, tutorials, excerpts, charts, weblogs, sites, books, and relevant reference information.” Thanks for sharing, Doug!

Zeldman has returned from Web Design World 2003 where he shared a keynote on designing with web standards and a presentation on Section 508 and design. Zeldman has generously published the slides of both lectures at Happy Cog, so surf on over and enjoy.

And, finally, zlog has received a fourth redesign since its launch. Now would be the perfect time to tell Mr. Zlog “not to rush to replace a good design” because, according to an article at A List Apart, “you will grow bored with it long before your readers do.” But, the new design is my favorite yet, so I will refrain from lecturing. Oops, I already did.

Long Time No See

Hello, readers. I am terribly sorry for my extended absence. I’m not really sure why I have not posted in more than a week. There were a few busy days where I was gone from dusk ’til dawn, but there were also a few days when I just sat at home and relaxed. Perhaps I have not posted because nothing very exciting has happened lately. No. That can’t be it. This past week I found a new weblog that I plan on sharing and the Zen Garden has gained a number of new entries. But, still, I have not posted.

My latest, and most convincing, theory is that there is something in the air. Something that has caused a recent slump in weblog updates. I say this because Superfluos Banter hasn’t been updated in ten days, The Sun Report hasn’t been updated in nine days, What Do I Know also hasn’t been updated in nine days, and stopdesign and zlog were finally updated today after thirteen and ten days, respectively. Like I said, though, it’s just a theory. In the end, I guess I’ll never know exactly what was to blame for my disappearance.

That said, I’m back.

And Growing…

As reported last Tuesday, the Zen Garden is continuing to grow. The two most recent designs are…

Entomology: Designed by the wonderful Jon Hicks, Entomology is a great tribute to both the flexibility of CSS and the beautiful creatures we all know as butterflies. Jon has made use of some pseudo CSS elements, so make sure you check out the design in Mozilla or Opera.

Hedges: One of the more unique designs at the Garden, Hedges, by Kev Mears, is a cute and simple design that adds another touch of character to the now thirty-one-design-wielding Garden.

The Garden is Growing

Three new entries have recently been added to the Zen Garden, which has continued to grow over the last couple months. The new entries are…

Gothica: Designed by Patrick Lauke, one of my coworkers at the SitePoint Forums, Gothica is a nicely laid out Gothic design with a grungy header graphic and clean navigation.

Atlantis: Kevin Davis’s dark design is reminiscent of being deep under the water in a lost city. I’m not completely impressed by the central graphic, and the layout isn’t anything to ogle over, but in the end, it is a nice addition to the Garden.

“Everthing is pleasing to the eye”

Backyard: Ray Henry’s design has proved to be one of my new favorites. Everthing is pleasing to the eye, including the interesting layout, the calming color scheme, and the use of typography. Great work!

With the Zen Garden about to hit thirty designs, I’m still hoping to get a design of my own on the list, sooner or later.

Apple Ads Still the Best

I you haven’t already seen Apple’s new TV ad for the new Power Mac G5, which would surprise me because it has been played constantly, then you have to check it out. They always manage to make a simple concept go a long way and have a powerful impact on the viewer. Just goes to show that Apple’s advertising department is still on top.

The Luxury Web Concept

About a month and a half ago, Dave Shea proposed the idea of a luxury web campaign. Jeffrey Zeldman and a few others turned down the idea with reasoned arguments for why it would not work.

Today, Dave Shea tells us that “it’s time to quit watching what happens, and start doing.” Inspired by Tim Bray, who proposed some great ideas on how to get people to switch, Dave says that even though his luxury web idea may have been the wrong approach, it’s time to start doing something. Well, I feel that his luxury web idea just might be the right approach, and so to his latest entry, I replied:

Actually, from the start, I really liked the Luxury Web idea. I think that it’s very appealing to a wide range of people, because who doesn’t want the best of the best, especially when it’s free?

As far as I know, WaSP’s Browser Upgrade Campaign is the only campaign, of that sort, that is well-known. If I want to direct users to a site about upgrading their browsers, I can send them to the previously mentioned WaSP campaign, or to one of the browser (Mozilla, Opera, etc.) homepages.

None of these will appeal to the average web user. The WaSP site is too technical, and, although the design and layout is nice and simple, it is far from “luxurious.” Mozilla’s new design is nice and inviting, but I still feel that the content can be too technical and overwhelming for the average web user. It is difficult for us to see this because we are web designers and developers that are on the net daily and know its ins-and-outs. I would bet that if you told a friend of yours, that’s an average user, to check out one of those websites that are supposed to influence you to switch browsers, they would feel confused, overwhelmed, and, in the end, like they do not care about switching to one of these “confusing” web browsers. To be honest, I imagine that a lot of people wouldn’t even know exactly what a web browser is.

“Dumbed-down content, that even Auntie Gertrude could understand, would be great.”

This brings me back to your “luxury” idea. I think that a small site, maybe only 3 – 5 pages, with a classy (luxurious) design and dumbed-down content, that even Auntie Gertrude could understand, would be great. All content should also be as concise and to-the-point as possible. Why people should switch should be explained and also PROVED. Images of websites in IE6 and then in Mozilla and Opera would be great, especially if the websites are well-known and ones that people have likely been to before.

Then it should say somewhere, “Switching is only a download away!” A lot of people probably feel that, “oh boy, switching ‘web browsers’ is probably a complicated process.” But it’s not, and we need to tell them that, using cool, in-your-face images. Below this header will be a very cleanly laid-out list of the alternate, standards compliant web browsers. But we won’t actually say that they “comply with standards, and therefore webpages look like they’re supposed to.” That is far from convincing for the average user. Instead, we will tell them “this browser is so great that xx% of webpages will look even better when you use it!” (or something like that).

Each browser listing should have the browser logo (people love images), the name of the browser, a BRIEF description of why they would want to choose that particular one, a screenshot of a page in the browser (so they can see the interface), and a link that goes DIRECTLY to the download.

Oh yea… I also liked Tim Bray’s idea of mentioning big-name companies that have made the browser switch. I imagine that it would do a great job of convincing average users.

“We need to take this site and turn it into a commercial advertisement that appeals to the masses.”

I feel that a “luxurious” site, if designed correctly, could make quite an impact and become very well-known. Heck, even CNN.com might do a write-up on it; they didn’t hesitate having an article on the “weapons of mass destruction error page” that made its rounds on the net. We need to take this site and turn it into a commercial advertisement that appeals to the masses.

This is just me thinking out loud. To conclude, I’ll leave you with what I feel will be the key points in a successful browser-switching campaign:

• stay away from everything “tech,” including design and content terminology
• cool, hip, classy design
• dumbed-down content that almost everyone will understand
• we need to be advertisers and make browser-switching seem like the hot-new thing, using in-your-face graphics and blurbs that tell how other big-companies are switching

SimpleBits Surprises Us

I was making my daily weblog rounds before heading off to bed, and next in line was Dan Cederholm’s SimpleBits. As my eyes were drooping and going in and out of focus, I clicked the SimpleBits link in my “Favorites” drop-down menu and was immediately woken up by the shock that came when I saw that SimpleBits had a new design.

“It was only a ‘slight redesign,’ but it really gives the site a whole new feel.”

Dan never hinted that a new design was around the corner, and even after it had been published he only subtly mentioned it at the bottom of an entry about a different site, saying “You may also notice a slight redesign to this very site as well. Just a subtle update to coincide, while “borrowing” a few elements from the Inc. design.”

It is true that it was only a “slight redesign,” but it really gives the site a whole new feel. My favorite is, of course, the new top navigation that is cleverly styled with CSS. Also included are two new color schemes: yellow and blue. Dan, if you’re reading this, I would like to request a revival of the red-orange. It was my favorite. :)

Much Has Happened

Well, after a brief hiatus from its hectic schedule, the Internet is back to normal and I can finally report on the current, and numerous, happenings across the Net.

This is already old news, and has been reported everywhere, but I’ll still give it a mention: Netscape is dead. R.I.P. Reported by MozillaZine, “It has been learned through public and private sources that AOL has cut or will cut the remaining team working on Mozilla in a mass firing and are dismantling what was left of Netscape (they’ve even pulled the logos off the buildings).”

Mozilla.org is now displaying a new look that is far more professional and much less geeky. With AOL cutting funding for Mozilla, the new look came at just the right time. Also, Mozilla has launched the Mozilla Foundation, a new non-profit organization that will serve as the home for Mozilla.org – the two sites are simply mirrors of each other.

Stuart Robertson, of Design Meme, recently pointed out iRider, an advanced multi-page web browser with features up-the-wazoo. The developers have thought of everything, from “the page list,” a visual map of all the pages and sites you’re working with, to “Surf-Ahead,” a feature that makes pages wait for you — you don’t wait for them. If you have Flash, make sure you check out the online demo for a great, visual overview of the browser.

Inspired by Beyond the Blog, an article that describes using MovableType as a database application to run sites, Doug Bowman of stopdesign has rebuilt his portfolio using MovableType as the back-end content manager. He explains the process very thoroughly, so it’s definitely a worthwhile and educational read.